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Facebook Dark Posts: What They Are and When to Use Them

With Halloween coming up, we decided to write about a topic that sounds a little more eerie than usual: Facebook dark posts. We know that sounds spooky but, luckily, they are not as sinister as they sound. It’s safe to say you can put away your garlic and wooden stakes. Now that we’ve cleared that up, let’s discuss what Facebook dark posts are.

What are Facebook Dark Posts?

Have you ever wanted to create a post for more than one promotion at the same time? Maybe you are offering 20% off to repeat customers, but 30% off to those that have never purchased before. You may not want all your followers to see the discrepancy.

Enter Facebook dark posts, also known as unpublished Page posts. Facebook dark posts allow you to create unpublished, paid posts that are only seen by audiences you specify.

Why Would I Want to Use Them?

The most straight-forward reason to use Facebook dark posts is to decrease the frequency a specific audience sees posts or to avoid the conflict described above. With dark posts, you can create as many posts as you want, showing them to specific segmented groups, without spamming or confusing any of your followers.

Since you can create multiple posts, why not take it one step further and use A/B testing to see which posts are performing the best? You can change various aspects (image, headline, body, call to action button, etc.) to see how your audience reacts. If you’re unfamiliar with A/B testing, you can check out our blog post here.

How Do I Create Them?* This post assumes you have a Business Facebook account set up for your organization and that you have access to create ads. *

Step 1: Go to the “Page Posts” section of your Business Facebook account under “Power Editor,” and make sure you are under “Ads Post.”

Step 2: Click “Create Post”

Step 3: Now, you will need to fill out the URL, Post Text, and each of the required details.

URL: Insert the URL you want this post to link to

Post Text: Write the description to appear with your post

Call to Action: What will draw your audience to click the link? “Get It Now,” “Learn More,” etc.

Step 4: Once you are finished, be sure to select “Only use this post for an ad.”

Step 5: Click “Create Post”

Step 6: Go back to Step 2 for each ad post you want to create.

Step 7: Once you’ve created all the posts you want, go to “Ad Manager” and click “Create Campaign.”

Step 8: Choose your marketing objective. In this example, we will choose “Conversion,” but there are many different options:

Awareness: To generate awareness and interest in your ad

Consideration: Encourage people to think about your business and look for more information

Conversion: Encourage people interested in your business to buy what you are advertising

Step 9: Name your Campaign and click “Continue”

Step 10: This is where you will create your ad set, customize your audience, and set your budget. This process is the same as when you normally create Facebook ads.

Step 11: Click “Continue” once you’ve filled it out.

Now What?

We hope we’ve helped you realize that Facebook dark posts are not as spine chilling as they sound, but instead are incredibly useful. Don’t fill up your audiences’ newsfeeds with tons of posts unless you’re prepared to lose a lot of potential customers. Instead, use Facebook dark posts, so you can create as many posts as you want, have them go to the people you specify, and keep them off your company’s news feed.

Don’t forget to track each post for engagement and conversions so you can continue to show the right post to the right audience at the right time, giving them the Facebook customer experience they expect.